A Last Chance
by symphonic497
Summary: An ancient power has awoken. Hundreds of years have passed since the creation of Mankind and their fight with the Grimm but little do they know that their fight never ended. Soon all that would stand in the way of this ancient power and Mankind is a small group of students who would decide the future of mankind. A rewrite of my unfinished story.
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue_

_Mankind has grown quite strong since their making two thousand years ago._

_As they emerged from dust mankind fought long and hard to claim every inch of land their kingdoms stand apon. _

_As mankind slowly lost their being to the grimm long ago mankind made a decision to delay the destruction of their species._

_This decision sealed the fate of mankind's existence with the grimm, they would fight each other untill one side conceded to the other. _

_But this all had a price._

_Years past, the preparing of forces and this conflict was long forgotten within the memories of mankind._

_...but not the grimm..._

_They stood silent slowly growing in strength untill now._

_Mankind was doomed without the help of a small group of heroes, and that is where their decisions will end or save mankind._

* * *

~Chapter 1-"It Was a Pleasure"-1 year after the Penny incident~

**Kai**

"Come on Romeo lets see what you're made of." Kai said in a challenging voice.

"Yeah ill make sure you see me when you're lying on the ground." Romeo taunted back

"Sure. Sure" Kai said as he bowed.

"Hmmph" Romeo mumbled as he bowed back.

Kai got into his fighting stance and balled his fists while Romeo took out his dual swords. Kai waited for Romeo to make a move as they circled each other, silently shifting positions, eyes locked. Kai saw Romeo tense and prepared himself. Just as Kai predicted Romeo launched himself forward, swords flying out before him, aimed at Kai's chest.

*CRACK*

*CLANG*

*thud*

Romeo layed on his back, disarmed and throbbing with pain the duel was swiftly ended. Kai then offered a hand to which Romeo took.

Pulling Romeo up Kai said "We have a lot of work to do."

"Yeah. Thanks" Romeo said sarcastically, pride broken and still wirling around from the quick "spar"

"Hey I'm not the one who decided you were a childhood prodigy, that was Ozpin. And if you don't appreciate me telling the truth then I have no need to teach you." Kai said

"Yeah except for how you need a bed to sleep in at night." Romeo retaliated.

"That is true but that doesn't change the fact that you should take this more seriously, I've only known you for five minutes and I can tell you lack drive." Kai replied.

"Yeah of course I lack drive... I have nothing to fight for." Romeo said sadly.

"Not true. If you didn't have anything to fight for then you wouldn't be here at Beacon. It doesn't matter what drives you, it could be yourself, others, honor, pride, a girl you have a heart for. Anything that makes you get up in the morning and go to sleep at night. Do not tell me you lack a thing to fight for." Kai said

"Well that's easy for you to say. My family's dead, broken into little tiny peices, their all I ever had and ever will have. Now stop acting like you know me." Romeo nearly whispered, tears dripping down his feminine featured face, over his scare on his left eye, down pale white skin and dripping onto the wood panel floor.

"Ah so that is what blocks you. Guilt from your family's death, I can relate. It gets better with each passing day, I promise. But the only way to fill the hole you have in your heart is with others. Since you've only been here for 3 days I want you to take a break from our lessons until you've made at least one friend. But don't let me catch you taking off anymore time than you have too. Anyway, it was a pleasure Romeo, remember to believe in yourself." Kai said as he turned to leave.

"Wait. You said you could relate. How?" Romeo asked still wondering how his new teacher saw through him.

"That's for another day, now go talk to some people." Kai said as he walked out the doors into the hallway full of beacon's students.

Leaving Romeo to collect himself in his classroom Kai walked to the café that was in Beacon's cafeteria. He saw people stare at his person, probably unnerved by his hood that hid tan asian skin, dark brown eye's, and slightly yellow teeth. He walked onward, cloak tailing behind him, it was colored white with purple detail on it's trim, a purple hawk with two staffs crossed behind it embroidered on it's back. Finally reaching the café he ordered two coffees, one Black, one with cream and sugar. Paying for it he left and began walking to one of his favorite places In Beacon, a place he visited a lot. He walked to the entrance of beacon and began scaling the large building. The sun cast its rays down on Kai as he climbed farther up. After a decent amount of time scaling the massive building he arived at its bell tower which he then sat on the edge. He still had two cups of coffee in his hands, unspilled.

'I wonder where she could be.' Kai thought as he waited for his friend to arrive.

After five minutes he got a tap on the shoulder. Turning around he saw his friend but she friend was not alone.

"Hey Blake. How's it going." Kai asked his old friend.

"I'm fine. Same classes, same team drama." She replied to Kai, a slight smirk on her face.

"And who might you be?" Kai asked politely to Blakes friend.

"This is Yang, she's one of my teammates." Blake gestured to the blonde

"Hi." Yang said dryly

"Hello, I've heard a lot about you from Blake, not all good things either." Kai jested with a grin that wasn't necessarily visible.

"So why did Blake drag you all the way up here?" Kai asked.

"Well she told me about you and I may or may not have forced her to take me to see you." Yang explained, a hostile look on her face.

"Ah. And I suppose their is a reason for you to force my friend to take you here." Kai infered.

"Yeah. I want you to stay away from "my friend". I don't care what you think you are but you don't lay a finger on her." Yang threatened.

"This has to be a joke. Blakes like a sister to me, besides why are you so offended that she has me as a friend?" Kai asked.

"Because your a teacher! Not a 17 year old!" Yang said angrily.

"Uhm if you haven't noticed I'm 18, my birthday was three days ago." Kai replied with annoyence.

"Yeah sure. Ill believe that when I beat the pulp out of you." Yang said as she extended her ember cilia.

"Kai I would take off the hood, she didn't believe me when i said my friend was a teacher but was also 18." Blake advised with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah. That would probably help." Kai said as he took off his hood revealing his flawless asian toned skin and long black hair that was swept to the right side of his face. Flashing a smile he let his guard down. A huge mistake.

Yang punched him hard in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending a wave of pain shooting up his spine. She swung again at his face to which Kai blocked, twisted his arm and then grabbed her wrist before using her arm to off balance her causing the blonde to fall to the floor. Blake just stood there facepalming at Yangs stupidity.

"Fucking hell! What was that for!" Kai exclaimed.

"Oh i don't know, you pissed me off!" She said.

"What did I do!" Kai asked as he offered a hand to the fallen girl.

"I don't know. Just let me leave." Yang said as she smacked Kai's hand away.

"There's nothing stopping you." Kai said as he shot a look at Blake saying 'why'.

"Whatever" Yang said as she stormed off, pride hurt.

"It was a pleasure" Kai called after her.

Yang just kept walking. Finally leaving the two friends alone.

"What was that about." Kai asked as he and Blake sat on the ledge of the tower.

"I told her about you and how great you were and when she found out how old you were she demanded I introduce you two to each other." Blake explained.

"So why'd she punch me in the gut?" Kai asked.

"Because she's jealous that your so young and already a graduate and probably has a crush on you" Blake said with a grin.

"That still doesn't explain why she sucker puched me, i mean if you like someone shouldn't you be nice to them?" Kai said in genuine confusion

Not in her eye's, she's testing you. Of all people you should see that since your the 17 year old genius. " Blake replied.

"18 year old genius, As of 3 days ago." Kai corrected

"That's still 17 to me." Blake teased.

It was a good moment while it lasted. After ten minutes rain started to pour down onto the towers roof. As Kai and Blake scaled down the building, soaked in rain water Kai's thoughts wandered from Yangs reasoning to his new student. 'I wonder how he's fairing.'

Romeo

Romeo walked around beacons vast halls studying the artwork and structuring as he looked for someone who he could talk to. Looking around he saw a lot of people going about their business but none who were alone or looked like they needed a friend. What was good for Romeo was that he was confident in himself, talking to people didn't phase him but he also knew that some people wouldn't appreciate him talking to them considering he was only 16. Knowing this he looked for younger students, glancing from side to side he saw many grown figures walk by, all older than he was by a long run. Sitting on a bench he burried his face in his hands and thought of how stupid he was probably being, like how he was when he met his teacher who he still barely knew, he barely even knew his name. All his thoughts were disrupted by a slightly squeaky voice.

"Uhm... are you ok?" The voice said.

"What" Romeo replied as he pulled his head up and looked at the short statured person in front of him, obviously female.

"I said are you alright? You seem kind of down." She said.

"Yeah, I'm not doing so great. I just got here a few days ago." Romeo answered.

"Sounds like a story." She said sitting down next to him.

"Yeah, a long one at that." Romeo said with a half smile.

"Well,do you mind telling me it? You seem like a good person to talk to" She asked.

"Sure, why not. Names Romeo by the way." He said holding his hand out.

"Ruby, nice to meet you." Ruby said as she shook Romeo's hand and waited for him to start his story.

"Well heres the shorter version. I guess I can start from when everything goes downhill." Romeo began "I guess it all started when I was 10. I'm the son of a Huntsman named Raiden Blue and a Huntress, Sky Blue. They were taught here at this school and were friends of the current headmaster, Ozpin. When they retired relatively early they moved out to a small town where they had me. They were very protective of me and sheltered me even though they trained me to be a hunter which doesn't really go well with having a "Happily ever after" mind set. After years of training from when I was 10 until about a month or two ago our village was attacked by a horde of grimm which destroyed my village... I wasn't aloud to fight... my parents were slain and when my sister, who was 18 at the time burst through the doors, grimm right behind her, I saved her from them. Or I thought I did, she was so badly beaten she died of her injuries." Romeo's voice wavered " and so I came here and now I'm looking for "a friend" as my teacher said."

"I'm sorry about that Romeo, Im sure you did all you could for your sister." Ruby hesitated " if you want I can be that friend you need"

Romeo paused

"Sure, that be great." Romeo said in a relatively relieved and happy tone. "how old are you anyway? You look younger than most of the people here." He asked.

"Probably because I'm the youngest in the school, I was moved up two years, I'm 16." She replied sulkenly

"Hey that's all right I'm 16 too!" Romeo said estaticly

Ruby giggled "why are you so excited?" She asked

"Because I'm not the only one who's out of place...i mean...Uhh... sorry"

The two shared a laugh.

"Its fine I get that a lot." Ruby said still giggling.

"Well then, I guess you want to be a huntress?

"Yup, always wanted to be!" She beamed.

"Cool, hey did you by any chance make your own weapon too?" He asked.

"Yeah I actually did" Ruby said, elated that they had moved onto weapons.

"Well do you have it with you?" He asked.

"Its actually in my locker, maybe I can show you it later... although I'd be fine with seeing yours." Ruby inquired.

"Oh sure." Romeo said. "This is swift and gale" He said as he pulled his twin blue dual bladed swords out of matching royal blue sheaths crossed on his back. The hilts were pure white, wrapped in black leather on its grip, its guard bare but inscribed in them were the names of each blade, holes on one side of each sword's T shaped guard.

"Wow those are cool!" Ruby said estaticly, brushing each end of the swords.

"Yeah, they also do this." Romeo said with a smirk as he switched his swords into pistols, the blade folding into a sight, handles angling themselves slightly as blue triggers pooped out and the guard formed the barrel of each pistol. They were predominantly white with blue detail, opposite of the sword form. Ruby was now more awed then before, he figured she was a weapons nut, as he was a little himself.

That's when he got a real look at his new friend. Ruby was a very cute girl, petite figure, short dark hair with red highlights that complimented her grey eyes and pale complection, although she was in her school uniform she wore a red cloak. He blushed slightly as she turned to him.

"Can I hold one?" She asked with puppy eyes.

"I guess just don't..." Romeo began.

To late.

A shot rang out the halls which to Romeo's surprise were empty now.

"Thank god there's no one here." Romeo said trying to contain a smile as Ruby handed his weapon back proptly. He failed.

"Hey atleast it wasn't as bad as when I exploded." Ruby said, instantly regretting herself.

"You exploded?" Romeo asked, not very surprised.

"Its a long story." She sighed.

Before Romeo could say anything someone ran around the corner.

"Oh god that's my sister" Ruby whispered to Romeo.

"Is that good or bad?" He asked.

"Could be either" she said just as Ruby's sister stopped in front of them.

"How'd I know it be you who'd blast a hole in the wall." She said almost bursting with laughter.

"Oh come on Yang I didn't make a hole in the wall" Ruby said, blushing.

"Yeah, yet." She teased as she saw Ruby blush "Ohh is my little sister embarrassed." Yang said in a babying voice.

"Oh shut up Yang." Ruby said annoyed.

"Is it because you finally made a guy friend?" Yang said grinning at Ruby's flustered look.

Romeo was about to say sonething when two people came up behind Yang.

"You have a lot of room to talk" said a male voice.

Whirling around Yang blushed furiously. "Oh you again" she said.

"Wait... Kai?" Romeo gasped a little.

"Oh wow. Thats weird, hey Romeo." He replied.

"Wait you two know each other?" Ruby asked Romeo and Yang at the same time.

They both answered "yeah" but Yang added the detail that she punched him in the stomach and Romeo said he was his teacher.

"Wait so this kid is your student?" A figure next to Kai said.

"Yeah. Weird I know, anyway Romeo, this is Blake, and this is Yang." Kai said gesturing to the two girls standing next to him.

"This is a bit confusing." Romeo said " I was just talking to Ruby, who's sister runs over and teases her, then you and this other girl come up and apparently she punched you in the gut which suppriesed me because you beat me bare handed in a duel that lasted 3 seconds. And now we're all standing here looking at each other trying to figure out whats happening, correct?" He finished.

"Yeah that seems right except that Yang and Blake are on my team." Ruby added.

"Ok so why'd we all end up here?" Romeo asked.

"Well I guess I shot a bullet which made Yang run over and I guess she was being followed by you two because she punched...uh Kai in the stomach. Right?" Ruby asked.

"Probably" Kai said.

"Yeah" Yang agreed.

"Close enough." Blake added.

"Well can we all go our own way? I was just taking Kai's advice and finding a friend." Romeo said

"I guess as soon as I get a just answer on why I was sucker punched." Kai stated glaring at Yang.

"Look you want the truly honest answer?" She said glaring back.

"Yes, that's all I want." Kai said.

"Because I got flustered and when I get like that I tend to act out vigorously." She replied in a guilty voice.

"All right. I understand, just remember next time I'll be punching back." Kai said with a grin.

"Really after punching you in the stomach after I knew you for five seconds you forgive me that easily?" She asked.

"Well its hard not to forgive such a beautiful women." Kai replied instantly blushing.

As Romeo observed the scene he didn't know what to think, thoughts whirling around in his head, he was genuinely had no idea what was happening and thought stepping away from the conversation would yield a time to think about what was happening. But for now he couldn't, he would just have to deal with how things went.

Looking back to the events that were currently happening he saw Everyone staring at Kai.

"Yes I gave a compliment, big deal, now please would everyone stop looking at me like I'm crazy." His mentor nearly begged.

Nothing happened, nothing really could be said.

"Wonderful, well anyway it was a pleasure meating you all. Hopefully next time we meet we can have a real conversation." Kai said.

And with that he just vanished from thin air.

"Uhhh..." was all anyone said.

After a few moments Blake and Yang bid their farewells and walked off together hastily. Leaving Romeo and Ruby.

"That was interesting at the very least." Romeo said.

"Yeah. I think your mentor is... well he's mysterious." She said.

"Yeah I know, I've only known him for a few hours." Romeo said.

"Well it was nice meeting you, maybe we can hang out sometime." Ruby said as she looked at the clock in the hall.

"Yeah definetly, I basically live right over there." Romeo pointed to the doors Kai's "classroom" was. "Ill see you around.

* * *

_Half the heroes had met, and in just time even though they may not know it. They would need each other in the upcoming events._

_The odd begining of the soon to be team has past._

_Soon judgement would be apon them by the grimm._

_It will either be a slow, painful or swift end_.


	2. Chapter 2

_Authors Note- Hey readers! So I purposely didn't have an authors note in the first chapter because then you guys wouldn't be readers huh? Anyway I'm sorry for the long time between this update and the first, I'll try my best to update faster but I had to get this right. Also if you're new to this story welcome! If you came from my last story hello again! I will not be following the same events as my last story to which this is based off of but will have the same general plot. Well I guess I present you with chapter 2 of my story._

-**Chapter 2-"Regret & Memory"-3 days after "It Was a Pleasure"-**

"Come on Romeo! Faster!" Kai yelled at his student. He watched as Romeo tried replicating the advanced stances and moves Kai had shown.

Romeo grudgingly began again. A sheen of sweat shined on his skin as he punched, kicked, flipped, swiped, and blocked an imaginary enemy. His combat armor was damp in a few places and out of order from the vigorous movements. Finally finishing his combo of moves he panted, fatigued and out of breath.

"Better. Much better. Now keep your back straight and do it again." Kai told.

With a glare Romeo started again, he had learned that arguing with Kai didn't yield anything but more training. His thoughts went to his friend, Ruby who he was supposed to meet later, he then wanted nothing more than to go wash up and have a little fun. As his thoughts wandered he slipped on the sweat slick floor. He met the wooden tiling with a thud. Instead of getting up he layed there still out of breath.

"I suppose that's enough form for today, you must be exhausted." Kai said with a neutral look.

Romeo nodded thankfully. Slowly he sat up, muscles aching, and put his arms on his knees. Kai took of his cloak which he wore almost everywhere to which he showed his usual training clothes, loose white fabric trousers and a plain black shirt. He walked right I'm front of Romeo and sat down, legs crossed.

"I have one final task for you today Romeo. I have decided to teach you how to meditate." Kai said.

"What's there to learn about it?" Romeo asked, now under control of his breath.

"Many things Romeo. Like what it can be used for, how to meditate, and how to improve yourself with meditation. It's something that I trust you can accomplish. Meditation is not an easy feat, you may believe that you can meditate but there is more to it than simply closing your eyes and retreating to ones mind" Kai replied

"Well than tell me "oh wise master" what can it be used for?" Romeo asked.

"For one it can unlock your aura." Kai said.

This instantly peaked Romeo's interest.

"How?" He asked.

"In due time my pupil. First I want you to cross your legs." Kai replied.

Romeo did as he was told.

"Now, find how your hands match up. Make them form a shape that calls to you, that calms you." Kai said.

After a moment of hesitation Romeo crossed his arms in a X form, pointing his fingers towards his shoulders.

"Good, good Romeo! This truly expresses you. Your spirit is free going and stubborn but has great values and is full of power and courage." Kai explained.

"Thanks, I guess" Romeo said with a slight smirk.

"Now close your eyes, let your mind clear." Kai advised and did likewise.

Romeo followed suit and focused on clearing his mind. He soon found that he couldn't, thoughts still kept a hold on his mind. Agitated he tried again. After a long period of time which could have been hours or seconds or minutes he became frustrated and huffed out a long sigh.

"You are blocked Romeo, i can see that. Do not get angry with yourself it will only make this harder. find what keeps these thoughts in your mind and resolve them in anyway you can. I can't give you any advice beyond that." Kai said in a determined and encouraging voice.

Romeo relaxed a little, looking for the reasons he was troubled but then he felt a tingling sensation in the back of his neck, then pain shot through his spine and he flailed out. He had never felt pain like this before. He felt his mind slowly turn black as he slipped away from reality. The last thing he saw was Kai leaning over him, Black hair swaying.

Romeo sat up in an unfamiliar place. Looking around he saw pure Royal Blue skies. Looking down he saw he was floating.

"What is this place?" Romeo thought. "Jeez my head hurts." Was his next thought.

He slowly stood up on invisible ground, staring at the Royal Blue void above amd beneath him. Timidly he stepped forward, testing his foothold. Nothing, he stood on an island, one he couldn't even see.

"What is this?" Romeo thought as he began to panic. "How do I get out of here."

Romeo heard a slight breeze brush past him, low raspy sounds echoed through the mysterious breeze. It sounded like it was whispering something to him. He strained his ears and was able to make out one raspy word. "Focus" it said.

"Focus" he repeated in his mind. An idea instantly sprung up.

Sitting down again he crossed his legs, made an X with his arms and inhaled deeply. Then exhaled steadily. He looked into his mind and searched for what blocked him inside, finding the biggest regret he had and he pushed it out of his mind. To Romeo's suprise there was an audible "pop".

Opening his eyes he saw the cobblestone road that used to lead to his now destroyed village. Standing up he began walking up the road. The Intricate stonework held his weight thankfully. Soon he saw tree's and dirt form as he walked, he knew he'd see his "home" on the horizon soon, he felt it. A sound startled Romeo as it came closer and closer.

*Clack Clack*

Romeo listened closer

*Click Clack*

Romeo turned around and saw a large white stallion trotting towards him. A tear came to his eye as he recognized the large horse. One he had raised and cared for for years.

"Seric..." Romeo gasped.

The horse nudged him affectionately as he nickered. The horse had a saddle on its back to which it pushed Romeo towards with its massive head.

"Ok boy. Ok." Romeo told the horse, totally awe struck by his old friends appearance.

Romeo climbed on the back of the massive stalion which began galloping down the stone path almost instantly.

The trip was quick, ten minutes at maximum. Romeo saw his village engulfed in flames, dead bodies from his people and corpses of the grimm all were motionless. Flames flickered inside shops, houses, barns, everything. Ashes floated through the air settling on the massive battleground. Romeo almost didn't notice the path Seric was walking on. The mossy stone path took them to where Romeo's biggest regret lied. His own home was surrounded by beowolves and flashes of light came from inside the house, bullets were being fired. Romeo wanted to run forward and save his sister from her death even though he knew this was all in his head. Tears flew down his cheeks and dropped of his chin. His body wanted to fling forward and help the memory of himself but he reasoned with himself. He let it go, he let go of his regret, his self dought, his dreams of going back in time to save his family, and his unwillingness to move on. And with that he felt that tingling in the back of his head. Bracing for pain he then felt a slight burning as he blacked out again.

**-Kai-**

His eyes flew open as he sprang right up. Romeo was panting and sweating but when he realized what he had done he smiled and laughed to himself. His friend who had come to see him was startled from her dazed state and was now questioning Romeo on what happened. Kai chuckled as Romeo became flustered with all the questions. Kai just stood, leaning on the wall watching his student try to calm down his friend.

"Ruby I'm fine ok. I'm alright calm down." He pleaded.

"But you were out cold and he wouldn't tell me what happened!" She said pointing at Kai.

"Look I really appreciate the worry but I'm fine, I just went through a mental lesson I'm fine if not better than I was." Romeo assured.

"Fine whatever you say. Just don't scare me like that." Ruby said giving Romeo a quick hug.

"Ill try, now I'm going to go change and then we can go do something, it can't be too late can it?" Romeo asked.

"Its just after five, don't be too rushed." Kai said as Romeo walked to his room which was right next to Kai's

"So Ruby were are you two headed?" Kai asked as soon as Romeo was In his room.

"Oh I don't really know, Romeo said he had something in mind but he didn't tell me." Ruby replied.

"You have an idea don't you? Just not one hundred percent sure right?" Kai said with a smirk as Ruby blushed a little. "Listen I don't really care, have fun."

Kai walked into his room at that and closed the door. He took a look in his mirror atop his dresser in the plain room. Small bottles of cologne and other things lined the dresser and blocked the bottom of mirror. Now inspecting his face for blemishes he found nothing and went to take a shower. He had somewhere to be too.

**-Romeo-**

Romeo and Ruby walked through the halls of beacon, it was Sunday so the halls were mostly empty, a lot of students went into town on this day.

"So how's it goin' Ruby" he asked.

"Fine, my team keeps arguing with each other over stupid things though, its really really annoying." She answered.

"Like what?" He said

"Well we recently were a signed to go do some sort of task outside of Beacon, like a field trip but by ourselves and its a really really big deal so everyone's all stressed and their all getting mad at each other over little things like who gets the bathroom!" Ruby vented. "Or how quiet it is when its study time! Or who sits were! Its total chaos!" Ruby said exaggerating with her hands.

"That sucks. Why are they so worried?" Romeo asked.

"Its a big grade I guess. Some just take it more serious than others." Ruby said.

"So who is exactly on your team?" Romeo asked after a pause.

"Well there's Yang and Blake who you've already met but then there's Weiss who's kinda bossy and a little prissy. She's really obsessed with her grades." Ruby answered.

"Well she's probably the one who's getting all angry and stressed right?" Romeo guessed.

"Mostly" Ruby answered.

"Well maybe you guys should give her some space, I don't really have much advice for that." Romeo said

"Well its the best I've got. So anyway were are we going? I mean you said it had something to do with weapons so I figure it has to be cool but..." Ruby asked.

"Well since were both sort of weapons nuts I though we could mess around and see if we can modify them a bit. That sound cool to you?" Romeo asked.

"Yeah!" Ruby nearly yelled ecstaticly.

The two walked through the nearly empty halls until they came to a place in beacon that Ruby didn't know about. They stopped in front of a double door with a dusty sign above it that said "Weapons Lab". Pushing the doors open the relatively small room was dark and a little dusty. Romeo turned the lights on and a yellowish light flickered on.

"I found this two days ago when I was wandering around. It hadn't been used in like five years from what I've heard. So I suppose no one really wants the stuff." Romeo explained.

"Cool maybe I can find a better scope! Or some extra plating! Ooh is that a bigger magazine?..." Ruby went on excitedly.

Romeo laughed a little as he went over to were he was working on his weapons, he had been here every day for the last few to try and make his duel swords into a duel bladed "staff" except most of it would be blade. He had already wasted a few hours on a design he had been working on but looking at it now it was a bad blueprint.

"Watcha making over here?" Ruby asked from behind Romeo.

"I'm trying to make Swift and Gale able to connect to make a staff sort of deal but still be able to detach and use them like they were and then still be able to shift into guns, but right now I don't have a clue how to do so." Romeo explained.

"Well let me see them shift into guns." Ruby said inspecting his weapons.

Pressing the button on his hilt they switched to gun form, shifting and clicking.

"Oh! Look here" Ruby said pointing to swift's handle. "If we put a connection joint there and there" she said pointing at the two handles. "You can easily connected the two by twisting them together."

"That's actually viable. Lets try it." Romeo said somewhat surprised that he didn't think of that earlier, he probably was over thinking it. Ruby went looking around for some sort of joint

"Here these might fit." Ruby said holding up two joints about the size for the swords handles

"I hope so." Romeo said as he took the two metal pieces.

He tested to see if the hugged the handle of the sword. They did, the perfect length and size. Ruby must really know a lot about weapons to spot out these out of probably hundreds of others. He put some weapons adhesive on the connectors, then he put some small screws in and set it down to dry.

"I think it'll hold. Thanks a bunch for that too. Now what were you doing with your uhh. What is it that you use?" Romeo asked.

"I haven't shown you? Well here let me introduce cresent rose!" Ruby said as she pulled out her scythe which unfolded into its large shape.

"A scythe! Jeez! that's different... I guess it fits your personality." Romeo said clumsily.

"Thanks I guess, most people just sort of back away when I show them my sythe." Ruby said.

"Well maybe its because its one of the deadliest weapons out there. If you ask me its probably common sence but not everyone realizes a weapon is only deadly in the right hands. Its not like a scythe is going to jump out and attack them. I mean your probably great with it but..." Romeo tryed covering up his slight mistake

"Just shut it. Your not covering yourself." Ruby said with a giggle.

"Well I didn't mean it like you were bad I just..." Romeo was again interupted by Ruby's laugh.

"Its fine! I know what you ment" Ruby said still giggling slightly. "Anyway I was trying to find some way to make some sort of bullet that would still give a good kick but wasn't lethal. For like sparing and stuff." She said.

"Well if you're going to use these bullets for sparing you want a rubber tip for it so it stings but doesn't cause any lacerations. What do you think." Romeo asked.

"Probably a smaller amount of explosive dust too. Hmm maybe we could do somethin' like this..." She began drawing on a sheet of grid paper.

**-Hours Later-**

A few hours later Romeo realized that he didnt know what time it was. Looking around the room Romeo looked for a clock, he didn't want to stay out too late. Finding a rusty one that looked as if it barely worked he saw it was nearing nine.

"Hey Ruby. Its almost nine, do you think we should head back?" Romeo asked.

"It is!? We REALLY should be going I told my sister I'd be back at seven!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Lets go then! come on ill walk you back!" Romeo offered, picking up his weapons as Ruby picked up her new bullets.

The two walked out into the hallway and hurried back towards team RWBY's dorm. At a jog the pair was just about halfway when they slowed to a walk.

"You think your sisters mad?" Romeo asked.

"Why don't you ask her..." Ruby said pointing to a blur of yellow rushing at them.

They waited for Yang in the long stretch of hallway. She came to a stop right in front of them.

"Thank god your alright!" Yang said hugging her sister who uttered a small "ow".

"Why are you guys so late?" She asked.

"Well we kinda were busy focusing on upgrading weapons in this lab Romeo found." Ruby explained with a slight stutter.

"Were?" She asked.

"Its in the east wing. It hasn't been used in years so I suppose no ones using it anymore so we added connecting joints to my swords so they can conjoin together." Romeo explained showing of his new swords.

"Alright, next time Ruby make sure you and your boyfriend are on time ok?" Yang teased.

"He's not my boyfriend Yang! Jeez, we've known each other for four days!" Ruby retaliated.

The two sisters continued arguing, sending smart remarks, naggings, and rude words to each other. Romeo just stood were he was, arms crossed watching the argument. It could have been 10 minutes later when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning his head he saw Kai standing next to him, a smirk on his face.

"Jeez Romeo what'd you do?" Kai teased. For once he was smiling at Romeo without any teacherly advice.

"I didn't do anything. Don't look at me." Romeo said with a smile as the two chuckled. "How'd you find me?" He asked.

"The noise from your footsteps and this" Kai gestured to the two sisters. "I wonder how long it'll take them to realize I'm here." Kai said after five more minutes.

"Could be a hour, could be a minute. I don't know, I'm just waiting to say goodbye." Romeo said.

"You should do something or we may not be able to walk back to the room alive." Kai advised.

"Maybe. What should I do?" He asked.

"No idea. I may have incredible skills in combat and logic but I have no idea when it comes to social skills." Kai said.

"Oh come on Ruby I was just playing with you!" Yang said.

"Than can you do that when I'm not around my friends?" Ruby pleaded.

"Fine. No promises though." Yang said with a devilish smile.

"Fine. Now can we go back to the dorm." Ruby asked.

"Sure. Lets g..." Yang started. "Oh... hey Kai, didn't know you'd be around..."

"I usually am when Romeo's off with his girlfriend." Kai said.

"She's/He's not..." both Ruby and Romeo began. Yang snickered at them.

"Im guessing you're here for Ruby?" Kai asked, interrupting the two.

"Yeah. She was supposed to be back awhile ago. Anyway I'm sorry for... ya know punching you and stuff." Yang said sheepishly.

"Its fine, whatever went through your mind at that point probably provided reason to. I forgive you." Kai said.

"Thanks. For not being mad and all..." Yang replied, rubbing her arm.

"Its fine, seriously. Everyone deserves a second chance right?..." Kai said.

Romeo saw that Kai and Yang were caught up in conversation so he and Ruby exchanged hasty goodbyes and started for their dorms.

**-Kai-**

"You know they left right?" Kai asked Yang.

"Yeah I saw them leave." She answered.

"So do you really think they're...ya know...together?" He asked.

"Well for the past few days they've been with each other almost all day. I saw them having lunch together instead of sitting with the rest of our group." Yang said.

"Well that's a sign. I noticed they blush whenever they make eye contact so I figure there's something. But that aside is it just you, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss in your group? Or is there more? I can't get Romeo to tell me anything about you people." Kai asked.

"Well maybe you should have asked one of us instead of interrogating your student about it. But yes, there's another team. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora who make up team JNPR, they're pretty good as a team, like us. Why do you ask?" Yang replied.

"Well. Its not easy to explain... I was supposed to keep this from student ears but I think the time is right for you and your friends to know. Get both your team and team JNPR and meet me here tomarrow at midnight." Kai said. Quickly looking over his shoulder he quickly whispered. "I have to go. You should too."

And with that Kai made a proof of smoke and disappeared.

**-The Next Day-**

"Come on Romeo we have somewhere to be." Kai whispered to his pupil.

Romeo stired and propped himself up with his arm.

"Jeez Kai what time is it?" Romeo asked as he looked out the window.

"Eleven forty. I know its late but its important. Ill explain on the way. Now get your gear on." Kai said, throwing Romeo's armor and weapons on top of him.

"Jeez fine. Now get out." He said.

With a nod Kai walked outside his room and then outside his makeshift dojo. Waiting in the hallway. No one was awake and it was completely silent. "Perfect" he thought.

Romeo walked out of the dojo with loud footsteps and slammed the doors closed.

"Could you be any louder?" Kai asked.

"Oh this is quiet for me." Romeo replied, voice dripping with sarcasm

"Well then on the way to the place we have to be were going to learn how to be sneaky." Kai said with a smirk.

"Really!? Can we please do this another time." Romeo begged.

"Fine. But don't test my patients." Kai said, taking full advantage of his position. "Now follow me."

The pair went through the dark hallways, barely a lit with candles. No one was in the halls at this hour. They were all in their dorms sleeping, studying, or goofing off. Kai stopped.

"Why'd we stop?" Romeo asked.

"We wait here. Were waiting for teams RWBY and JNPR. Ill explain why when there here alright?" Kai "explained"

The two waited for probably fifteen minutes before they heard footsteps clattering down the hall.

"Finally" Kai whispered under his breath.

Eight figures came around the corner. Ruby and Yang came first, then Blake and a girl in a whitish blue outfit, a blonde boy with jeans and a hoodie right behind who was next to a girl in brownish clothing, followed by a tall kid in a traditional green formal shirt with slacks who had girl with a lot of pink on next to him.

"See I told you he'd be here." Yang said excitedly to the rest of the group.

"Must you all be so loud! This isn't for any other students!" Kai angrily whipsered.

"Then what is it you wanted from us?" The blonde boy asked.

"We need to go to Ozpin's office. He'll explain why I need you all here and now at this time of day." Kai said "Now follow me, and try to be quiet..." Kai said.

He began walking towards Ozpins office and soon enough soft footsteps followed him. He walked onwards, cloak swaying behind him and hood over his head. Something that wouldn't comfort you during the night was seeing Kai with his cloak, it struck fear into any sane persons mind when they see him just because they didn't know what their opponent looked like. This was true for the people following Kai right now. They were nervous but kept going, spurred on by the fact that Kai was a teacher in the school. Finally they reached the headmaster's office. Opening the double doors the group of 10 walked inside. Professor Ozpin waited at his oak colored desk, green was the prominent color scheme in the room. Kai walked to the nearest wall and leaned against it. The rest stood in front of Ozpin's desk.

"I suppose Kai has told you nothing. Correct?" Ozpin asked the students.

A chorus of "yes" rung out.

"Well then I'll start with the begining." Ozpin said, folding his hands in front of him. "Today you might ask why your here at such a obscure hour and I would ask the same question myself. The information you are about to hear does not leave this room. Am I understood?" The headmaster asked.

Everyone nodded.

"I've been observing you 9 for some time now and I believe you all are ready for this task while no one else is, even the graduated hunters and huntresses. Your skill is more than above average as you may have noticed, even here at Beacon you all are extroidenarly talented. This is why I choose you 10 for this task... there is an ancient power awakening. The creatures of Grimm are massing around Vale and are extremely strong and powerful due to the sheer number of them. Too many have massed around us and we need you all to first stop the Grimm advances towards Vale, then locate what is making them and destroy it by any cost. This is not a required task but without your help I cannot guarantee anyone's safty. This is a remarkable weight to carry but your decision will deside if we are to live or die. I need your decisions now or the position we are in will not change. But if I may add one thing. Take heed, this is no test, if you get to the point of mortal injury you will die. But if you deside whether to serve Vale now instead of watching it burn to cinders and ashes I can give you the rest of the information required for this mission-of-sorts" the Professor said.

Leaving a pause for the students to think the Professor waited for a sign. Kai saw this and nodded for him to continue his briefing.

"Now that you all have heard of what lays before you I need your answers, now." He said.

"Uhm... sir?" Someone said.

"Yes Jaune?" He replied.

"Why am I here if you're looking for talented students?" The blonde asked. Kai saw someone, a red headed girl, give a pleading look at him, almost like a "Why Jaune?"

"What do you mean? Are you unknowing of your abilities Jaune? You've done extremely well while here at Beacon." The headmaster said.

"No... No everything you know about me is a lie..." The boy named Jaune said, his head hung low. He was being stared at by almost everyone in the room. Pleading with him silently.

Ozpin interrupted "I know about the transcripts Jaune. Someone with that much incentive was sure to try their hardest in this academy. That's why you're here. Not only is your skill as a fighter important Jaune but your other abilities count just as much... Is there any other objections?"

"Why them Ozpin? Shouldn't a team of hunters and huntresses go? They're extremely talented, I would agree with that but they're still young. Remember last time you did something like this?" Kai spoke up.

The Headmaster raised his voice "Yes Kai I remember Team NTHK (Night Hawk). But this is different, Vale's future depends on it! Its our last chance! If their was another way I would have chosen it. There is no more safety, not anymore atleast."

"Nothing was ever safe! Not since they died! And this was the same deal, last time was a "save Vale at all costs" deal." He sighed "Do what you must but atleast tell them what's really happening and do it without a suger coating!" Kai choked on every other word. Tears welled up in his eyes as he pulled his hood over his face. To him almost nothing was left, A few things were keeping him alive and they were fragile and few were really around anymore.

The Professor let out a long sigh. "Fine...fine fine fine." He whispers to himself. "Hell itself has broken loose. I know how to stop the Grimm. And you all are they key's. Each one of you possess a characteristic that is needed for the closing of The Gates of Grimm, the Grimm get power from it and use the power to make themselves powerful and to spawn more of themselves, this is why the mission is important. To close the gates each one of you will enter the gates and face challenges that are unknown to us. After those challenges are completed you can close the gates. We can drop you off about twenty miles away from The Gates of Grimm. Then you must find your way to the site. When we drop you the moon will rise in the direction of the gates. This is the last chance we have, our world needs a defender. People who risk everything for others, like all of you. Please save the people of Vale in our time of need. We call out to all of you: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Romeo Blue, and Kai Zïcè. Although you all may not realize it, you all have surpassed a regular hunter or huntresses skill level. Now I ask you again, will you serve Vale now or will you watch as it burns to the ground?"

"It's not really a choice is it? We either wirk for you and hopefully stop a full on invasion or let it happen, right?" Yang said.

"Close. One person can stay behind but then our chances of closing The Gates are drastically lowered. It would only make sense if everyone participates" Kai replied. "Otherwise we fail and sacrifice everything for nothing. So we basically are being forced into this mess nicely."

"Vale needs us. Hundreds of thousands of people need US. A bunch of students will decide the future of humanity. We have to do this, choice or not no one would just let hordes of monsters kill thousands of innocent people." Kai said hoping to motivate his "peers" a little.

"So we're the heros then... fine, I'm in..." Jaune said.

"I guess I have to make sure you don't make a stupid mistake. Ill go if he does." The redheaded girl said to Jaune and then to Ozpin.

"It's our duty to serve Vale, its a question of "now or later" so I choose now." A girl in white said.

"Damn... I might as well. No fun with just studying until ya fall asleep." Yang said.

"I have to stay with Yang. I'll go too..." Ruby said.

Romeo's eyes widened a bit at her statement. He spoke next. "Can't say no I guess."

A few others spoke, basically agreeing to the rest of the two team group. It stopped at Blake.

"I'll go. But only if Kai comes." She said.

Kai's eyes widened with surprise. Although they were good friends Blake had started keeping her distance. Every now and then they had coffee and the friendship was slowly deteriorating. Hearing this really was a shock. Now realizing he was being stared at he spoke with a slight waver. "W-what? Fine yeah sure I'll go. Can't have Romeo dying on me huh, not like Heath" Kai said as he glared at Ozpin.

The last two were talking to each other quietly, The boy in the green atire and the girl who seemed to like pink seemed to know each other pretty well.

Finally the decision seemed to be made and the two turned around. The boy nodded at the headmaster.

"Thank you all. Vale tha..." the headmaster was cut off.

"Shut it. You said the same thing to me three years ago. And also, once this is done." He paused and turned his head to glare at the professor. "I want out."

Ozpin's expression went blank for a moment. "Fine..." He said to Kai. "You leave in an hour, get your battle gear and maybe a small personal object and we'll supply the rest." He then said to the whole group of students.

And thats when the first of the gun fire was heard.

_Authors Note- Wow a cliff hanger! Or at least something of the sort -_- anywa I basically put this authors note in to invite any criticizing you people have and also that im looking for one more OC for this story. PM me anything you guys want, whether it be talk about this story or another, maybe a larger project or even some questions on my writing or advice. Whatever, I'll see you all in the next chapter. -Symph_


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note- Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of uploads but I'm making sure that the chapters are high quality. Anyways thanls for reading!**

* * *

**-Chapter** 3-"The Begining of a journey"-36 hours after "A memory forgotten, A memory Remembered-

Kai

"Lets go! Lets go! We got to get to the falls!" Kai yelled back to his teammates as they jumped, rolled, dodged, and weaved through the red forest. The sounds of things breaking through the trees kept coming closer and closer. "Oh no... we're not gonna make it..." he thought.

Thats when the first of them caught up.

-35 hours earlier-

"Is everyone ready?" Kai asked blandly.

"Yup. We're good" Ruby said.

"Same here" Jaune said.

Romeo nodded.

"Alright then. Lets get to the airship." Kai said as he started jogging towards the main entrance of Beacon.

More gunfire was heard in the distance.

"What was that?" Someone asked behind Kai.

"The sound of what we're trying to stop. And there's much more to come if we fail." Kai said dismally.

"Are you always this depressed?" A voice said, Kai figured it was Yang by the tone and voice.

He stopped

"No... But today I was reminded of something thats plagued me for years. Plus we're about to be forced into a huge battle so right now I'm not having the best of days." Kai mumbled and then kept walking. He walked until he saw the airship, tears began welling up in his eyes, concealed by his hood. he sprinted towards the airship so no one could hear him weep. Images of his lost "family" flashed through his mind. When he reached the large airship he pushed past the "Headmaster's" assistant. And then he darted to the deck of the ship.

Romeo

Romeo walked with the two teams as they watched Kai sprint towards the airship.

"Whats up with him?" Ruby whispered to Romeo, her arm rubbing his.

"I don't really know. Probably something from his past, I was never able to get anything about it from him except that it sucked and should not be brought up." Romeo answered.

"Sheesh. Thats kinda odd isn't it? He doesn't want anyone to know about his history and constantly conceals his face. Weird." Ruby said.

"Im sure he's still working through it. Try not to judge him to harshly, he's still very fun to be around once you know him." Romeo assured.

Looking around at the group he was walking with and saw that Blake was studying the ground. Turning back to Ruby he said "hey why does Blake look depressed too?"

Turning her head Ruby looked at Blake and quickly turned around.

"I don't know. I'll try talking to her." Ruby started slowing down to walk with Blake. Romeo stayed at the same pace. Finally reaching the huge airship they were greated by Glynda Goodwitch herself.

"Hello students, follow me please" She said.

The group of 9 followed the assistant into the airship which directly after the doors closed, took off towards their destination. Now Glynda led them to a small room with a large touchscreen display on the wall. A map was displayed on it. The woman walked up to the screen and turned around, typed something into her tablet and a circle was now displayed on .

"Today you are being assigned a large part in the saving of Vale. This task that is bestowed apon you is crucial to the survival of our homeland. This is the plan. We will drop you 10 here" she pointed at the circle. "You will make your way through the forest and after a few miles will find a crumbling temple atop a waterfall, you will meet defenders on the way to the falls. Once inside the temple there will be a portal between two doors, you must close those doors. To do this each one of you must face a challenge that this ancient power decides for you. To start this challenge you must channel your aura into the ten different pillars that lead up to the portal, once this is done you must defeat your challenge and then the gates will close, after make your way back to this clearing" another circle appeared "and you will be taken back to Vale. Now is there any questions?" Mrs Glynda Goodwitch asked. "Good, you have an hour until landing." She then said and walked briskly out.

Walking out of the briefing room there was still no sign of Kai, and Blake had seemed to have disappeared. It seemed like everyone had realized the same thing.

Kai

He sat there weeping, the wind blowing in his face. His hood had been blown down, off his head so now his long hair flowed with the breeze. Then he heard footsteps over the wind. Someone sat next to him and rested their head on his shoulders, also crying. It was Blake, his last "Family" member. Slowly coming to a whimper Kai turned to Blake.

"I'm sorry..." was what he said "I know I've said this before but I couldn't...I couldn't..." He choked on his words.

"I know..." Was all she could say without the words being lost in a chorus of sobs and whimpers.

Kai just sat and started regaining his composure. Finally he spoke again.

"I know you pin the blame on me. And I know that some of it was my fault but I have to ask. Can you ever forgive me? You're the last of the family besides me." Kai said.

"Not yet... soon we can talk about it. But first we need to tell the rest of them." Blake said, worried that her teammates wouldn't be so easy to forgive if she didn't tell them about her problem first.

"Alright. Tell me when your ready." Kai replied. Not a waver in his tone anymore.

"Ok. Lets go." Blake said softly after a pause. "I'll tell my team, can you tell the rest of them?" Blake asked.

"Yeah... just let me take Romeo." He said.

"Of course." Was her answer.

Romeo

Romeo waited in a folding chair for Kai to get team JNPR to explain some huge deal of things about him. Finally the doors opened and the five walked through. Kai stood in front of them, leaning on a wall ready to tell his story.

"So. I'm guessing you all have no idea who I am, why I'm here, and why I don't seem to like Ozpin, what's up with me hiding my face? And how I know Blake. So let me start from the beginning back when I was young, five years old, my parents died in a house fire. I was orphaned and lived under the rule of a filthy, horrible man who beat the children for messing up the smallest of things. Sick of this life I ranaway at the age of ten. No where to go, homeless and freezing I resorted to stealing to get by. Then one day I was stealing from an old man he caught me and sat me down, I thought I was caught, going back to that orphanage again but thankfully the old man took me in. He acted like I was one of his own and soon I was calling him my father. There were more children he took in, my brothers and my sisters. Three boys and two girls. So that old man taught each one of us about our aura and semblance. Mine being the ability to manipulate vision, my brother Heath had the ability to increase his speed to incredible lengths, my sister Terra was able to manipulate sound. My second brother, Nick, was able to jump to extreme heights. And then there was Blake, the youngest of all of us. She was able to dash and leave mirror images of herself. After years of training, our father was attacked. Our home burned to ashes, just like before... and so we went to beacon. Except Blake joined the white fang and abandoned us. Me and my siblings were moved up to the last year of teaching due to our extreme skill, we were said to be legends, unseen and deadly, Swift and silent. Then Ozpin sent us on a quest to stop what was happening now. We went, Naive and cocky, rushing an unusual creature that was so strong it could slay armies. We could have killed the thing if we hadn't been so cocky, if we snuck up on it we would have won and my three siblings wouldn't be dead. When they were struck down I hid and fled. Blake's my last sibling, and she avoided me when she saw I was at beacon until recently. So... thats what I am. Thats why I don't like Ozpin, why I'm such a freak, a loser, an anti-social man who doesn't seem to fit in. I'm sorry you have to mop up what I started. So that's why I am who I am." Kai told the story of his life, tears running down his face. Before anyone could react or say something he disappeared, leaving behind purple hawk feathers in his wake.

"Wait...He can disappear?" Romeo thought

Kai

Walking to where Blake would be telling team RWBY the story of their lives, invisible and silent. He found them, all hugging and crying slightly.

"I suppose this went better for you than me huh sis?" Kai said.

The four girls suddenly broke apart looking around confused.

"Oh sorry" Kai said as he revealed himself.

Blake turned to him and her teammates sat awkwardly, not knowing what to say or do.

"So. Now we finish what our family started." Blake said.

"Lets do it right, and maybe we make it out of this alive." Kai replied, a fake smile on his face.

"So... uhh... Kai. Do you know anything about this giant monster thing we're trying to beat?" Ruby asked tediously.

"Well, the temple is guarded by a huge creature of grimm. It's a legend and is seen in stories of every culture. The things called a Sundowner, reason being is because the thing breathes flames hotter than the sun. Well not litteraly but the thing really breathes fire. Heavy scale armor on its entire body from what I've seen but as of now it's blind, the one good thing team NTHK did. So that means the grimm is gonna be able to hear better but loud noises will bother it more, also you should know that the thing has wings and can fly." Kai explained. "The only advantage it has is it's heavy armor and flying capabilities, besides the fact that the grimm also breathes fire. If we take of it's wings then we'll stand a better chance of killing it. Otherwise the rest is going to need to be made up on spot." He added.

"So how big is it?" Yang asked.

"Too big to explain, you would have to see it yourself." Kai answered.

"What about speed?" Weiss asked.

"Slow on the ground, fast in the sky. But even on the ground the thing kills..." Kai replied.

"Lets go get team JNPR and Romeo and go to the breifing room to make up a plan." Ruby told more than asked."

"I guess the leader part coming out right?" Kai asked Ruby.

She gave him a hard stare to which he met equally. She walked out and was followed by her teammates but Blake stayed. Once the three were out of earshot Kai asked a question "You didn't tell them everything did you?"

"I tried." Blake said coldly, Deja Vu rang through Kai's head. When he first told Blake of their siblings he had said "I tried" a hundred times. He had thought this was over.

Sighing before he spoke Kai asked "Why? Blake I thought you understood and couldn't forgive, i've explained what happened over and over but you still don't believe me. Why... just why?"

"I did believe you, but then I got a letter from Terra." Blake said, no emotion on her face.

"She's alive!? How! When did you get the letter?" He asked, both excited and scared.

"Last month, she wants us to go meet her in a week." Blake explained.

"Wait... was it handwriten?" Kai asked, thoughts wirling through his head.

"No... what does that have to do with it?" Blake asked.

"Was it or was it not?" Kai asked again.

"It was typed. But I still don't see any reason why it matters." Blake said, confused.

"Terra always wanted less conection through technology remember? She wouldn't type a letter, especially not one so important. I think its from him." Kai explained dismally.

"Thats crazy! This is our sister!" Blake began arguing.

Romeo burst through the doors behind Kai. "Hey we need you guys to come to the briefing room, now." He said.

"We'll finish this later" Kai said as he turned to walk with his student.

Romeo

"So we go through here and with luck we'll be there by sundown." Jaune finished explaining the plan he had formed in his mind. "What do you guys think." He asked.

"It's the best we have." Romeo said.

A chorus of agreements went out.

The ship intercoms went on "5 minutes untill we reach the LZ." It said "grab your things and report to the landing bay."

"Lets go guys!" Ruby said to the rest of the group. Already anxious to start letting her weapon do the talking. She zipped around the corner, Romeo followed her trail of rose petals being the only person who was ready to go, running down stairs and finally making it too the landing bay in the ship. Ruby waited patiently for the anyone who followed her.

"Hey Romeo, you ready to start chopping some grimm in half?" Ruby said to her friend.

"Yeah but arn't you nervous Ruby? I mean we are about to possibly die from a humongous legendary grimm." Romeo said.

"A little but I think we'll be ok... or atleast I hope so" Ruby's false happiness fell.

"I'm sure we'll atleast make it out alive. But I guess even if we do we wouldn't have done anything to help Vale." Romeo said, not necessarily helping Ruby's mood.

"Then we should give it our best shot right?" Ruby said, then she awkwardly hugged Romeo.

"Yeah... of course" Romeo replied, trying to sound casual as he was forced into a hug, making him hug back.

"Listen Romeo I need to tell you something before we land." Ruby began.

At this point more people began to walk into the landing bay.

"I'll tell you later..." Ruby quickly whispered.

"Ok" Romeo replied.

Now everyone was lined near the landing bay's door. Waiting for it to lower. The plan was to get to the temple as fast as possible, choosing flat open land over forested paths for their route so the group could move faster. Looking around Romeo saw that Kai still didn't seem to have any weapons. Shrugging it off he prepared himself for the long run to the temple. Miles of non running with full battle gear on. Wonderful.

The doors opened and what the group of ten saw was a surprise. Beowolves covered the plains ahead of them.

"Shit. Alright guys lets deal with this." Kai said.

The group ran into battle. Beowolves ran to meet the group of hero's. As soon as the ten were off the ramp from the airship it lifted off and flew away. Now all that was in the minds of the group was the fight ahead. Team RWBY launched themselves into the air, In an arcing leap the let bullets, dust, and explosives rain down on the unlucky beowolves. Jaune led his team forward until they met the beowolves head on. Him and Pyrrha seemed to have great synergy with each other. Romeo then realized that he stood alone. He unsheathed his weapons and shifted them into his pistols, moving forward he dropped beowolve after beowolve until he got to a close range. He shifted his swords into one and started wirling them around, cutting rows of grimm in half. Catching a moment to breath he saw that for some reason some beowolves were dropping dead for no reason but then he saw the faint shimmer of light. Kai was able to turn invisible. He went back to cutting his opponents open.

Not even five minutes later the last monster was dispatched. Regrouping in the middle of the battlefield the fighters caught their breath.

"We should move, but instead of running all the way to the temple we should walk so we have more energy and if anything else comes up we'll be ready for it." Kai suggested. No one argued.

Kai

The group of students had been walking for hours now, they were dreadfully close to the temple above the water fall. Red trees seemed to be everywhere and their leaves coated the ground. Kai led the large group to their last stop until the temple was in front of them. He walked to a clearing, across it was a cliff over looking a valley with a river running through it. Nature has yet to be touched here and the sheer beauty of the site brought even the lowest moods soaring high. Sitting down on the edge of the cliff he looked over the view. The others were stunned but Kai grew sad. This is were his brothers and sisters had died. Looking to his left he saw the waterfall with the huge crumbling temple atop it. To his right should have been nothing but what he saw almost surprised him. Romeo and his "friend" Ruby were kissing. Holding each other and staring at each others eyes.

"That was quick" Kai thought.

He looked away to give them privacy but someone else didn't want to. Yang seemed to be about to whistle at them.

"Yang!" Kai forcfully whispered.

She stopped what she was doing and looked at him quizzingly. "What?"

"Don't, let them have a moment of peace." He said.

"Oh you're such a buzz kill." Yang teased with a smile.

Getting up after their five minute break Kai yelled for everyone to get moving again. He wanted to be done with this and go home. The group began walking the final stretch. Mentally preparing himself for the battle Kai didn't hear Yang come up next to him.

"Hey" She said.

"Hey"

"How's it goin?"

"Not well"

"Do you wanna talk about it? Im sure it'll make you feel better." Yang said in the sweetest tone Kai had ever heard.

"No. Sorry." Kai said blandly.

"Oh come on. Tell me what's wrong mister "I'm always serious". Are you still mad at me for punching you? Tell me tell me tell me." Yang began pushing Kai's buttons.

"Listen why are you even talking to me? Not that it's bad but I just don't understand why." Kai asked.

"Well..." Yang began.

Suddenly the ground began to shake and the trees behind the group started falling. Everyone looked behind them. A large creature broke through the dense brush behind them. The creature of grimm was known as a corpse stomper, a lovely name in a fairytale. It was similar to a rhino but its horn was whicked and barbed and its face had the white armored plating all grimm seemed to have. Its hide was black and its teeth were sjarp and red with fresh blood. One of these was easy to kill but soon almost twenty more walked through the brush.

"RUN!" Kai yelled.

The group followed Kai down the path, they were closing In on the temple. Just a few hundred yards left now. Looking behind him he saw that the grimm weren't chasing them. Weird.

"Stop" Kai said "They're not chasing for some reason"

Everyone looked behind and saw that it was true, the grimm were walking in the direction of where they had come from, towards beacon.

"They're going to Beacon or Vale" Someone observed.

"Lets keep moving then, hopefully this won't take too long." Kai said as he started for the last stretch to the temple. Luckily nothing happened until the group got to the bridge leading over the water to the temple.

"Alright guys this is it. Prepare yourselves for hell." Kai said and the faithful ten began walking across the bridge. Alert and ready the group slowly inched their way across. Halfway there was a rumble and a flapping sound. The Sundowner appeared, pearching itself on top of the temple. Everyone was a bit startled by the size of the beast. It was as tall as a five story building and its width was as large as an airship.

The Sundowner spoke in human tongue.

"So the Children of the Shadows hunt for me again."

* * *

**Authors Note- Ok so next chapter will have a lot of action. I mean like everything is action so stay tuned! Also the part in the begining obviously isn't in this chapter but will be in the next. Reviews are appreciated greatly and all that jazz. -Symph**


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors Note- Hey readers! A quick warning, later in the chapter at the challenges (You'll know what I'm taking about soon) there are some pretty dark subjects mentioned so if you want, skip over that. I recommend listening to "From Shadows" and "Falling Towards The Sky" by Jeff Williams while reading this. Anyways, here's the next chapter!**

-Chapter 4-The Children of The Shadow Order-Directly after "The Beginning of a Journey-

Kai

He knew.

The huge creature before him knew who they were.

And it spoke in human tongue.

"Incredible" Kai thought.

Soon the real world came back to Kai and anger soon filled his whole body. Gritting his teeth Kai wanted to fling himself at the foul beast that had killed his family. Death to him. Death to his kind. Death. Death. Death...

"No!" Kai yelled outloud, startling the already nervous group. He felt the Sundowners corruption getting to him, the Sundowner seemed to smile at the effect on his target. It opened its huge wings and flapped up and hovered above the temple.

"Whats the matter Kai? Are my powers getting to you? What's a little corruption to "The Shadows Prince"?" The creature said in a booming, dark voice.

"You... will fall... to my hand..." Kai whispered to himself, quickly turning to Blake, she nodded. A smirk played on Kai's face, it hid just how on edge he was.

Together the two used their aura to leap into the air towards the flying monster.

"FOR MY FATHER!" Kai yelled as he pulled out his weapon, it shimmered a purple color as it was taken out of his cloak and extended to its full length. A staff was in his hands. Then it morphed into a lance.

The Sundowner was caught off guard by the sudden aggression, it started to react but wasn't fast enough. The Children of the Shadows hit with timed and deadly strikes, sticking to their opponent and using the creature as a platform. They attacked its wings first, the tender flesh easily cut. Now angry, the beast brewed a heat in it's chest, lighting up to an almost blinding brightness. A shockwave erupted from the Sundowners mouth and knocked back Kai and Blake. They landed on the bridge, Kai right next to Yang who was at the front of the group, and Blake near Ruby who was near the back.

"This is gonna get hot guys! Brace yourselves!" Kai told the group as the shockwave reached them, a huge wave of heat blasted past the group.

"Blake! Lets go! No one else though... this ones family business" Kai suddenly yelled back as he launched himself back at the giant beast. Blake soon followed.

Romeo

Yang seemed to be a bit dazed when the blast of heat went past, probably nothing serious. Then Kai and Blake launched themselves back at the creature. Now the group wasn't doing anything. It was to dangerous to shoot the dragon and now everyone seemed to be in a haze. The group started to sway on their feet, something was making them tired. And it wasn't fatigue

"Mmmm... that floor likes really soft..." Romeo thought, already falling towards the stone bridge.

Kai

He slashed and stabbed at the huge black creature in front of him. Rage filled his body, his vains throbing with anger. His thoughts blocked by the never ending anguish that kept him stricking.

"HA you are weak!" The dragon taunted, only making Kai strike harder, sweat pouring down his face.

Now completely blind to anything happening around him Kai got a face full of fire. It knocked him back down to earth and into the river that flowed into the waterfall, certaint death awaited him if he didn't get up but when he hit the water all his will power vanished. The rapids carried him under water and dragged him closer to the drop off. He was then able to catch a breath of air. Gasping he looked around, what he saw disturbed him. Blake was laying on the shore, lifeless. He heard nothing of his teammates and assumed the worse.

"No... I led them... I led them to their deaths... just like everyone else."

"Forgive me father. Forgive my stupidity."

"But not until he ceases to be..."

Kai's eyes glared at the Sundowner, the grimms might had been bestowed apon the beast causing dark thoughts to go through one's mind. Making them think what is wrong is right, then rendering them helpless. The sundowner flew in lazy circles, as if he was bored.

"Good" Kai thought as he started using his semblance. He was now invisible.

Kai looked at the dragon and saw his weakness, a gap in the armored scales under its left wing, a loophole to be exploited. There always was, fate demanded it. Now Kai showed the truth of his weapon, a glaive that had dark magic cast apon it causing any normal person to become completely evil. This is why he held it, he was born in darkness and so was his family. Forced to take the burden and use it for good. Now it would reclaim itself by slaying a beast darker than even the worst villains could be. Hell bent on restoring balance as he once did Kai jumped at the beast, revealing himself and his show of aura. Dark purple mist formed around his whole body and his eyes glowed of the same shade of colors.

"SMILE YOU SON OF A BITCH" He yelled.

The Sundowner looked in his direction, red eyes glaring. Seeing the tattered figure burst towards him at unreal speeds it opened its mouth to take a bite of the sad looking himan. A wrong choice.

Kai quickly used all the aura he had and empowered himself. Suddenly there were dozens of Kai's all tattered and concealed by his cloak. Aura bursting out of all of them making a hurricane of purple mist.

"From shadows we will rise" the shades of Kai whispered, making a terrifying chant of words as they surrounded the large dragon.

"We will take back what you stole" was the next demonic whisper. The shades all striked from every dirrection, glaives piercing through the Sundowners entire body. Black blood sprayed the temple and ground below, the river ran black along with every live ruined by this ancient killers hand.

Suddenly the real Kai appeared as all of the shades evaporated. His glaive, colored black with the dark encantations enscribed on it, was pointed above him. He went right for the weak spot.

"NO, I WILL NOT FALL TO A PETTY HUMANS HAND. I AM DEATH ITSELF, I AM FEARED ACROSS THE REMNENT, I AM..."

Kai peirced its ribcage, then its lungs, its heart, and then back out the other side. Kai was carried through. The black whisps around his glaive were now gone. The weapon was redeemed apparently. He landed on the triangular roof atop the temple.

Knealing Kai let out a sigh of relief. "It... is... done..."

"Now this is where you die"

Kai's eyes sprang open as he looked behind him.

"How..." Was all he could say.

"I AM INVINCIBLE" The sundowner uttered it's unfinished sentence.

The beast started throughing flames at Kai. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable doom he would have to face. Baptism by fire.

"It's over..." was his last thought.

Wrong.

The blast of heat never came, it went around him like a cone, leaving him unscathed. Quickly opening his eyes, the sight that greated him was one that he would never forget. Romeo, his cocky yet selfless student stood in front of him, blue tendrils wirled like a monsoon around him. Dark blue mist swirled like a tornado around them, his eyes glowed and his face was full of determination. The blue streaks of hair he had now glowed a brighter shade.

"Don't make me regret saving your sorry ass!" Romeo yelled over the soumd of the flames.

"Don't tell me twice." Was Kai's response, he was exhausted and discouraged. WAS. Now energy surged through him and he thought clearly again.

"My strike took his darkest powers away, he won't have control over us anymore." Kai hypothesized.

"Then lets kill the thing! Theirs nothin' stoppin us!" Romeo said, his personality was always the same.

Kai smirked a true smirk, it was the best he could do at this point.

The flames finaly ceased and the two jumped off of the temple at its source. They were joined by others. Ruby who had rose petals left in her wake, Weiss who had snow trailing off of her, Blake who to Kai's suprise looked angrier them ever was with them, a black trail, Yang left flames behind her, Jaune seemed to have found something inside himself and was fearlessly leading the group towards the huge beast, Pyrrha had stones flying around her, Ren was leaving a pink mist, and Nora seemed to have hearts following her. Wait now their grenades.

Kai and Romeo leaped above the Sundowner and together they plummeted towards the beasts back. Romeo had seemed to push them onwards with a gale of blue wind. What had made all these people reach untold powers and will was beyond any reason Kai could think of. But now he had to focus on bringing balance back to the world. They slammed into the Sundowner causing it to fall out of the sky down towards their awaiting teammates.

"IMPOSSIBLE. THAT BLAZE SHOULD HAVE KILLE..." the beast began before the teacher and his student took its breath away.

The dragon slammed into the ground, knocking trees over in the process. The rest of the group charged at the stunned beast. Jaune and Pyrrha severed some major arteries in the dragons wings before the giant monster could fly away. Then it began to open its mouth to cast molten flames on the group but Yang and Nora shot its opened mouth with explosive dusts, its mouth snapped shut. Blake and Kai and Romeo now worked at the area around the huge Grimms weak spot. Weiss was freezing its limbs to the ground while Ruby and Ren kept the things head busy so the rest could attack.

It seemed to know it was bested and was fighting in a panicked way, its limbs spasmed before a huge roar was uttered, it was probably heard across the entire continent. Kai stood on the Sundowners neck, his glaive stuck inside the beasts head.

"Your reign... is over." Kai said as he shoved the glaive further into its skull.

With one hand still on the glaives hilt, the sundowner still wasn't dead but was barely clinging to the physical word by a string.

"Lets finish what we started. Together" Kai said.

Romeo put his hand on the hilt, then Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Ren came next. Then Weiss, Yang, and Nora. Together they thrust the glaive through the Sundowners head.

Jaune was the first to speak. "Today we are a team who did the unthinkable. A group of untrained teenagers killed an ancient power that has tortured our lives for generations... and now we close those gates and go home as hero's."

Everyone was tired and ready to rest but if they did that they might fail the mission. They got off the corpse of the once mighty Sundowner and set for the temple.

Romeo

Romeo had assumed that there was only the ancient Sundowner protecting the temple. Wrong. As Romeo got closer to the temple he saw that there was a large figure crouched over inside the massive building. Staring at the shadow Romeo suddenly noticed the temple itself. The thing was huge, atleast as tall as beacon, and as half as wide as the waterfall which seemed to be a mile long but was probably smaller. Dark grey columns made the walls technically and a triangular roof, the same color as the columns casted a nasty shadow over the area below it. Runes seemed to cover every inch of the structure. Torches were flickering on the columns but the middle seemed to glow but be dark at the same time, a shadow of doors right behind that huge humanoid looking shadow glowed black, almost unnoticeable. He was tired but as soon as this was done he could rest and... he would feel justified to ask Ruby on a date.

As the group closed the gap between them and the temple they all soon realized that the fighting was not over. They all readied themselves as they walked through the arching ceiling. Thats when the real guardian faced them.

In a deep voice it spoke. "Sheeth your weapons, I do not wish to fight."

After a little hesitation the group did but kept them easily available.

"I am not aligned with the grimm and owe nothing to either side but I am simply here to warn you. The task you face will decide if you live or die. And if you all live you are in control of these gates. The connection between the ancient powers of the old times and now. Do you understand the risks?"

"Yes!" The ten chanted.

"Then begin the judgement!" It said. And everything changed around them.

Kai

He knew he was up against an emotional challenge or judgement. It was predictable. What he didn't expect was what he saw.

He saw him. A younger Kai. A smaller Kai. He was just a child. He was a child that was stabbing his father in the chest.

Romeo

It wasn't what he thought had happened. Nothing like this.

Romeo watched his village being burned. It was by that Sundowner. Houses burned into ashe along with the blood and bodies that accompanied it before this disaster. People ran through the streets terrified and panicking. People all over started commiting suicide because the flames scared them that much.

Tears ran down his face.

Ruby

She was just a small child when this had happened.

She was being pushed around in the rain, being called a "freak" and then she tripped.

They kicked her and broke bones in her body. Then she was in a snowfilled clearing. Broken and crushed she was surrounded by beowolves. They began tearing flesh off of her. She screamed until her throat was clogged with blood.

Weiss

It was when her she was ten, her dad just came home and started beating her mother. He was going to far this time.

All she could do was watch.

Blake

The protest went horribly wrong, gasses and gunfire spread throughout the crowd of peaceful protesters, people cried for help only to be shot down.

Someone fell on top of her, he was dead. Blood seeped into her clothing and she screamed.

Yang

She couldn't breath. Something was pulling her down. Her lungs burned and her eyes stung. The light started to fade away.

She was afraid of drowning.

Jaune

Everyone was being over run and Jaune had to choose who to help. They all pleaded with him to save them. He couldn't stand their cries for help.

Either his mother, his father, or Pyrrha.

Pyrrha

She couldn't handle all of them. Blood filled screams filled the air. They were being teared limb from limb.

She had to stop them but no one would listen to her. They all panicked in the corner as the grimm closed in. To many to handle.

Ren

He was lost. The forest mist closed in on him. He felt them coming closer.

"RUN NORA" he screamed. But she didn't move. She was motionless.

Nora

Ren had dejected her. Wouldn't talk to her or even look at her. He hated her for no reason and it killed her inside to know that.

Now he was yelling at her, using the harshest words imaginable. She couldn't yell back. Or say anything.

* * *

**Authors Note- Hello again! Pretty heavy stuff i guess. Sorry for the lack of updates but I have been doing a lot of projects lately so I haven't had as much time to write as I would like to. See you in the next chapter! I am looking for two OC's at the moment. So if you have one, or would like to make one PM me -Symph**


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note- So, finally finished the next chapter. Somewhat dark themed but after this there won't be any for a long while. Or maybe there might be some soon. who knows? Anyways here's the next chapter.**

* * *

-Chapter 5-

-"Challenges are Mearly Victories yet to be Obtained"-  
-Directly after "The Beginning of a Journey"-

Kai

He saw the pain in his fathers eyes. Betrayal. Tears flew down Kai's cheeks, he jumped backwards landing on his bottom. Warped visions started to appear around him.

"Wait... this isn't real... but I'm failing." Kai thought. "How do I beat this?"

The tears stopped flowing. He stood up and walked over to the dying man. With one fluent motion he reached down and yanked the knife out of his father. The blood under the man seemed to disappear. The open wound was no longer there. The man was sleeping, peacefully.

"If only you hadn't died all those years ago..." Kai thought "Maybe they would still be alive"

He saw a blinding light. He conquered his challenge.

He sprung up with a gasp. Looking around he saw the rest of his comrades were laying in front of each pillar that lead to the shadowy gates. He was the closest to the gates.

"You have completed the challenge. Congratulations. You are to wait for the others to awaken." The guardian told Kai "But first I will tell you how these challenges work. You being the first to face your challenge are to tell the others who awaken this. The challenges are completed in order. You were first, Romeo is the second, and so on. But if one is to fail, they will die plus those who face their challenge after that person. So if you failed, everyone here would perish" it said in a voice that was pure darkness "but alas there is a way to help the others. Sadly. You can send one message to each of the challengers to... help them I suppose. If they are close to failing their pillar will flash their aura's color. Hopefully you all die but I can not control that sadly." It finished. Just the Kai's pillar lit up in a dark purple on its runes. "You have passed. Now the next trial begins."

Romeo seemed to be next. After a few minutes of waiting the pillar started to flash a blue color.

"Shit!" Kai said as he rushed over.

Romeo

"How could I save these people? They just kept falling. There had to be a way!" Romeo thought as he gazed at the destruction. He knelt. Swords on the ground in front of him.

"I... can't... win" he said out loud. Then a whisper went by his ears, it was as soft as a spring breeze. "It's not just your life on the line. Remember Ruby?" It said in a barely audible voice.

"But I have to win!" Romeo suddenly yelled, picking up his swords and running towards the flames. He ran over chared corpses and burnt wood. He charged at the giant Sundowner.

Then everything froze.

"Some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and others. They have greatness thrust apon them." Romeo thought as he jumped at the sundowner.

"But some just pitty the defenseless" He said as he spun with his swords and rolled all over the sundowner. A fury of blue and white went all over its hide, then it burst into ashes and a blinding light ensued.

He woke up, tears seemed to have been coming from his eyes. He opened them to see Kai staring down at him.

"You almost failed." Was what he said.

Looking up he saw his pillar light up in a royal blue. Looking around he saw Kai's color on another pillar.

"Now its Ruby's turn." Kai said dismally.

A sickness came to Romeo's stomach, he rushed over to her.

Ruby

The beowolves were about to end her existence. She was right on the brink of death. She hurt in all the possible ways and she felt her being slowly lifting out of her, trying to escape the pain.

The beowolves kept pulling and she had given up hope. Then something caught her attention.

A voice that was carried by the wind whistled by her ear. "You are a leader now. It's not about you anymore. Your team first, you second" is what it said.

Ruby processed this over the next moment when she opened her eyes again she saw Yang about to face the same fate as her, then there was Weiss and Blake. Finding new strength she burst out of her captors. The torn flesh hurt like nothing she'd ever experienced but she some how started fighting. The blood trickled down from every wound and she felt the loss of blood. She would die either way so she put her team first. Herself second. Now she freed Yang who disappeared in a puff of smoke. Then Weiss who did the same as Yang. Then finally Blake who smiled at her and was then gone. She collapsed and let the remaining beowolves end her. But first their was a blinding light.

Her eyes opened slowly. Romeo and Kai stood above her. She screamed, panicking and flailing her arms.

"Ruby! It's ok! You're safe! Please. Please. Calm down. I'm here for you." Romeo tried comforting her which seemed to have a small effect. Soon she realized where she was and what had happened.

"Romeo... It was terrible..." Ruby said, tears already pouring out. She tucked her head into Romeo's shoulder and they sat their together.

Ruby's pillar lit up a red color. Now it was Weiss' s turn.

Weiss

"NO DAD STOP YOU'RE GONNA HURT HER!" Weiss yelled.

He payed no mind to her.

"PLEASE! STOP!" She screamed.

Their was blood on the floor. If she didn't act soon worse things would come. She wanted to move but found that she was frozen, watching the horrid sight. She felt herself wasting away. An unseen force pulling at her very soul.

Kai

He couldn't think of what to say. Weiss' s pillar was flashing frantically at this point. If something didn't happen soon they would fail horribly.

"Wait... I got it..." Kai thought.

Weiss

The corners of her vision started to become black. Her father was now coming for her. She was hiding, scared and confused.

"You're not perfect to everyone but you're perfect to someone. Make sure that someone is kept close."

She was still hiding as she thought about this for almost too long she rose from her hiding place and uncheathed her rapier. She cut down her dad. Looking at the dying man she saw that it wasn't her father.

She whimpered, both happy and depressed. The flash of light came from the murderers eyes.

Her eyes fluttered open. The relieved look on Kai's face told her that she had nearly died.

"You ok snow queen?" He asked.

"It was horrible..." she answered, to tired to be angry.

"I know... now its Blakes turn... wait... oh shit..." Kai said worryingly, he rushed over to her side and took her hand in his and held it too his forehead.

"Almost like some sort of prayer" Weiss thought "I hope she'll be alright."

Then she went back to her own troubles.

Blake

She couldn't get unstuck from the weight on top of her. The corpses blood soaked her clothes as she struggled to free herself. They had been protesting within every law put on them. Why would they be gunned down?

She felt the footsteps coming closer and closer. She would have to play dead to get through this. But she was shaking with fear. Her eyes showing off how scared she was. She screamed out of instinct when she saw the soldiers. They noticed and aimed their rifles at her.

"This is it" she thought "I die here"

"Don't give up" some voice said.

Maybe she didn't want to but it wouldn't change the fact that she was about to die...

Romeo

"No... come on Blake... don't tell me after all we've been through you're gonna let this kill you." Kai whispered to himself.

Romeo sat behind Kai, holding Ruby in his arms. It had been Blake's turn for the past fifteen minutes. A lot longer than Ruby's and Weiss' s. Her pillar wasn't flashing but the fact that it had been so long was unsettling.

"I hope she's OK" Romeo thought. Everyone else was thinking the same thing.

Blake

She woke up. Here wrists amd ankles were tied down. Opening her eyes Blake saw that she was in a interrogation room. Gulping slightly the steel door opened. A man walked in, he was dressed in a black suit and had a red tie with a fadora on his head. He stood in the corner of the room.

"Do you realize how hard it was to find you black?" A voice said. The person who uttered the words soon walked in. He was instantly recognizable.

"Roman Torchwick." Blake said angrily.

"Thats right my dear. You're captured by a "small time" criminal." He said. "Now Mr. Schnee wanted us to find the people who attacked that train of dust a while back and we thought you could help us." The criminal mocked.

"I don't understand a thing you're saying." Blake said nonchalantly.

"Don't try to dance around it. We know you did it. But who was your accomplice? I mean it seamed that their were two people in the security footage." He furthured the interrogation.

"I still can't understand a word you're saying!" Blake pleaded innocent.

"You listen here you stuck up brat! We know you were on that train! Now sell out your friend or im gonna blow your head off!" Roman said. He was now pointing his cane at her.

She was silent.

"Tell us now! This is your last warning."

All of a sudden blake knew he ment buisness. The crazed look in his eyes showed it. But she wouldn't make someone else die just because she couldn't stand having a gun pointed at her. She didn't care about what happened to her. She wanted others to live safely. So when Romen went berserk and started pulling the trigger she smiled. She was helping others stay alive. That was worth her life. Roman pulled the trigger and the light burst in front of her.

Now instead of a gun barrel, she was looking up at a clearly unsettled Kai.

"Hey..." Blake said in a tired, solom voice.

"Mornin sunshine." Kai said.

"Am I dead?" She asked.

"What!? No your as alive as ever. Atleast on the outside. How bad was your challenge?" Kai asked.

"Not fun..." She replied.

"Hey thats better than most of us. Be thankfully you didn't get something about Dad." Kai said almost to himself. Something was different.

Suddenly the pillar that was just in Blake's vision lit up a black light.

"Well looks like its Yangs turn." Kai said. He went on to explain the process of the challenges to Blake.

"Ruby!" Blake said. She looked over from her current... ordeals. "Yangs turn." Was all she had to say for Ruby to become antsy and nervous.

Yang

The weight on her ankle was too heavy. Yang knew she only had a few momets until she would black out. She was beginning to panick as she watched the lights above darken and disappear. Water filled her lungs as she continued to fight the currents but they seemed to drag her down faster. The water became murky and now she couldn't see. It was the end.

The currents carried a messege to her."Just one spark can ignite a forest fire"

Yang pondered the phrase for a moment. Her final moments spent thinking of the spark. She waited for it to come but it never did.

Kai

Yang's pillar flashed uncontrollably. There was no time left. Kai started sweating heavily. The dropplets started forming very quickly.

"Shit shit shit." Kai muttered as he tried thinking of a solution. If yang died it would be the death of five students.

"God damnit Yang! Don't tell me all that confidence was a fake mask! Don't let them die because you gave up!" Kai muttered to himself in a whispering yell.

He heard Ruby whimpering behind him. The lights from Yangs pillar were blindingly bright. The yellow light was beginning to resignate from Yangs body making the small group back away and sheild their eyes.

Yang

The heat was. Or well looked as hot as molten lava. Her body was on fire. Literally, flames actually were found flickering on her arms, legs, hair, every possible surface that could hold a flame did. The water around her was gone, she stood on the bottom of whatever lake she was in. The water was pouring In towards the gap she had created only to evaporate. Looking down Yang saw that her foot was connected to a block of cement by a chain on her ankle.

"Huh... now what?" Yang thought

And then there was a loud bang. A sharp pain shot through her body. A bullet passed through her shoulder. Then another. And another. She fell to the ground. Flames extinguished. The water fell on her again. She was drowning once more.

Now Yang was in a daze. She began thinking of her most dear things as she waited for death to take her. Her parents, her bike, her sister.

"No... I can't leave Ruby yet... not yet. Not yet." Yang thought. "NOT YET!"

The flames were back and now she was flying up into the water to the surface.

Then a blinding light.

Now here eyes were heavy and she was warm and cozy.

"YANG!" She heard her little sister yell.

"Five more minutes..." Yang said, turning over on her side and hit her head on something. Hard.

"OW" yang moaned annoyingly, opening her eyes. The blinding light made her instantly close them.

Ruby continued to make sure Yang was ok. Finally Yangs mind caught up with her.

Instantly she embraced her sister.

Jaune

They all shouted and screamed. The grimm were moments away from breaking their defences. His father pointed to his mother. Save her. His mother pointed back. Pyrrha simply watched Jaune, waiting for his decision. Time slowed for Jaune. He looked at each of the three faces he saw. The grimm hording them. His mother was always kind. His father was brave and honourable. Pyrrha was gentle and caring. But one thing stood out to him. A memory from not to long ago. It was the night he and Pyrrha first started training. They had just finished and were sitting on the roof next to each other. She told him that when he found himself to pick something worth while. Something he pondered daily was "what does that mean?". Now he knew. He reached out towards Pyrrha, his aura outlined him and he felt a surge of incredible energy. Sparks flew across his arm and then full arcs of white lightning shot out at the grimm in the room. They were incinerated and he had to shield his eyes from the blinding light

His body was tense. Why was he laying down? Wait where was he? Oh. Yeah.

He sat up and looked at the pillar above him, it was alight with a white hue.

He saw Yang and Kai walk over to him.

"Hey." Jaune said.

"Hey." Kai answered before explaining the situation. "So Pyrrha's up next. Just thought I'd let you know."

Jaune felt a sudden chill go up his spine. Worry in his eyes. He went over to Pyrrha and knelt. He waited for her to wake up. She would right?

Pyrrha

The people were dieing all around her. Their body parts flying. Blood painted the walls and wails were heard every where.

She saw everyone panick and hide in that corner. The grimm raided the room. Spreading out. And surrounding her and the people In the corner they advanced, pushing Pyrrha closer to the corner. Suddenly they all attacked. She was able to block most of the hits but recieved some scratches. She knew she couldn't do this alone so she started trying to inspire the cowering people into action with advanced moves. It didn't do much. She was sure it would soon be over.

"Remember that time when you got me back on my feet?" A voice said from the crowd behind her. She remembered. The voice recited the phrase with her.

"We fight for our lives and the lives of others. For peace. We face all odds because no one else can. WE do. Together"

Suddenly their were metal suits next to her. People inside iron plated armor. They cut through the grimm like a hot knife through butter.

"The true enemy is dought" Pyrrha thought.

A light encased her body.

She opened her eyes again to see blue ones staring back at her.

"Welcome back Pyr. I knew you'd make it." Jaune said, a smile one his face.

"Oh Jaune~" Pyrrha started sobbing. She dug her head into Jaunes shoulder. She grabbed for his hand but soon realized she was already holding it. She wrapped her arms around him. Not caring if she was making the situation awkward.

Jaune hugged back. Otherwise he didn't really know what to do.

Although Pyrrha was calm on the outside the seen she had witnessed had gotten to her. She continued to cry into Jaune's shoulder.

"Pyrrha... I need to tell you something. Something I realized when I was facing my challenge.

"Y...yeah? What is it?" She said, regaining her composure and lifting off Jaune, her hands still wrapped around him.

"I... I don't want to ever be without you. And I... want to be something more." Jaune said hesitantly. "I...I... I'm sorry I just couldn't not say it... Jus..."

The words that came from Jaune was exactly what she wanted to hear. So she cut his sentence off forcfully. With her lips. They both were clumsy and unsure but it was a kiss non the less. Neither of them had ever been with anyone else.

Nora

The words coming out of Rens mouth were words she didn't know he was capable of uttering. She let the words bounce off her on the outside but inside she was in mortal pain.

She continued to have her bubbly attitude on the outside to stop this torment. It seemed like hours before he stopped. Then he started storming off. Thats when Nora realized something. She had always danced around it with herself but now she couldn't hold back.

"I love him" she muttered under her breath.

Then a gunshot was heard and Ren fell to the floor. Blood pouring from his leg.

The gunman walked towards him and pointed the gun at his head.

Nora jumped in front of the shot.

The lights on the ceiling grew brighter.

Her eyes popped open. The group was watching over her.

"Well hiya guys!" Nora said as happy as ever, still shaken though.

"Nora. Its time for Ren to take his challenge."

She instantly was serious.

And that's when the explosion happened.

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**Authors Note- Yes i know Ren's challenge isn't in here. There's a reason for everything. Hope you all are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it. Please review/favorite/follow. Ya know all that stuff. See you guys in the next chapter! -Symph**


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note- Hey Guys! New chapter! It's not dark either. Or well. Most of it isn't. Anyway Her it is!**

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-Chapter 6-

-"Death is Like my Shadow, Always by my Side"-

-Directly After "Challenges are Mearly Victories yet to be Obtained"-

Romeo

The explosion knocked him and Ruby back. The heat was intense and felt akin to the Sundowers fiery breath. All of a sudden he hit the dirt, then Ruby fell on top of him. Looking over her shoulder he saw that a few of the outer pillars had been destroyed. The explosion was mainly because the powerful runes were destroyed but what destroyed them? He looked at the entrance and saw a pair of people running towards them. A huge horde of grimm behind them.

"You're kidding... right?" He said to Ruby who had gotten off of him and unsheathed Cresent Rose.

"Come on Romeo. Lets see if the others are ok." She said with a determined expression. She was now in her "Leader" mode.

"Right" He replied as they started to make their way towards the entrance of the temple.

Then he remembered something. Ren was still facing his challenge, hopefully the destroyed runes wouldn't affect him. Hopefully.

The nine gathered at the entrance, watching the pair of people run along the bridge.

"We have to help them!" Jaune said.

"But we don't know who they are." Kai mumbled.

"So we just let them die?" Ruby asked in an offencive tone.

"No. But we should think about the situation first. We're exhausted, dehydrated and all have just been through some serious mental trauma. Lets think about this." Kai explained.

"Think about this then. What if it was you and Blake out there. What would you hope we would do?" Jaune replied.

"Dammit..." Kai sighed to himself. "Fine I say we go."

"Alright lets move then!" Ruby said.

"What about Ren!?" Nora blurted out.

"Stay with him, If any grimm show up he'll need protection. We'll take care of this." Jaune ordered.

Nora smiled in appreciation and relief and nearly sprinted over to Ren.

"Alright lets go save their sorry asses." Kai said. "I'll try to distract as many as I can. You guys make sure you get them back safely. Then I'll need help. A lot of it too." He said as he jumped down the stairs, turning invisible with a flash of dark purple feathers.

Romeo followed Ruby and Jaune down the stairs, the others right behind them.

"You sure Kai can handle all those?" Ruby asked him.

"He's a teacher at beacon. I'm sure he'll be fine. He's supposedly a prodigy" Romeo answered.

The pair of people must have realized that they weren't alone because they seemed to be running faster. The charging grimm were still on their tail though. One of the figures turned around as he pulled out a large sword and it must have transformed into a rocket launcher because he quickly pulled a trigger and shot at the grimm which some were now flailing in the air. Suddenly Kai appeared, yelled something and disappeared. With some of the grimm stopped the rest had to slow enough for Kai to enact his plan. Finally the group had reached the two running figures. They stopped after seeing someone was holding off the grimm.

"Is he going to be ok?" One of them said.

"For now yes, now come with us if you don't have a death wish. Romeo, Ruby, weiss, Blake, Yang go help Kai we'll be over there soon after we get these guys as safe as they can be." Jaune ordered.

"Hey we can fight!" The same person said even though the two looked like they could barely walk.

"You look exhausted, you should rest. Right now you're too tired to even stand correctly." Ruby said before they started off.

They started to run towards their friend now.

Kai

He jumped back, blocking with his glaive. "Shit…" He silently cursed. Luckily the grimm were bottlenecked due to the bridge but on the other hand they were the grimm that the group had run from earlier that day. Corpse-stompers. These Rhino like grimm had tough hides that seemed to be uncuttable.

Kai quickly looked behind him to see how the situation was going with the two strangers. It seems as if they had complied because a small group of people were now running towards him.

"Finally" Kai thought

He quickly slashed out at the grimm only to see that it did little to the Corpse stompers. although only three could be fought at a time they were extremely tough and hard to kill. Kai knew their weak spot was right behind their heads, on their necks where the bony face guard was. But he couldn't get behind the beast because of the massive amount of grimm creatures that were behind them.

Kai took a huge blow to the chest. He flew backwards, tumbling and then landing on his feet by a small margin. Luckily the others had arrived and started firing at the beasts. Looking to his side he saw Romeo. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake by his side. Yang started barraging the first lines with here Ember Cilica to which she seemed to have killed one but as it disappeared into a black yellow flame another replaced the fallen hulk of death.

"We need shockwaves to get through the thick hides!" Romeo said.

"On it!" Yang said as she leaped into the air. She slammed back down on top of the centered Corpse stomper, breaking its spinal cord and blasting the grimm besides it and the ones behind them into the rushing water below. Another wave started to charge, causing the rest to begin to stampede.

"Romeo! Can you use your semblance yet?" Kai asked.

"I don't even know what it is!" Romeo yelled back.

"It's wind manipulation. You can control the wind!" Kai replied

"How do you know that?" He asked.

"The time you saved me from the sundowner, you sent a spiral of went over us to shield us from the fire." Kai quickly explained. "Try that with Yang NOW or she'll die!"

Romeo quickly became completely focused.

"Heh can't have anyone die on your hands?" Kai thought to himself.

Romeo's eyes glowed a royal blue and his hair blew towards Yang. There was a large gust of wind that nearly sent everyone flying towards the grimm. Luckily they were able to stab their weapons into the bridge. The grimm weren't so lucky. The bridge was clear of the corpse stompers now. Yang landed in front of them.

"Jeez! You almost blew me off the bridge kid!" Yang said. "But thanks… I guess"

"Hey guys! there's still more, stay sharp." Ruby ordered as she watched more corpse stompers file onto the bridge.

"This isn't going to work. I can only use my aura like that for so long" Romeo said warningly.

"Weiss make an ice wall so we can think up a plan." Ruby ordered. She followed through.

At this point Pyrrha and Jaune had reached them.

"How's the fight going?" Jaune asked.

"Not so well. We were able to kill about a quarter of the group for now but that was with a massive amount of aura use." Ruby said.

"Hmmm. Well. I'm not sure if it would work but I could try to use something I used in my challenge." Jaune offered.

"It's better than anything we've got right now. Go for it." Kai said.

With a nod Jaune walked over to the already cracking ice wall. Everyone watched as he placed his hand on the ice. He closed his eyes and felt the power flowing through his body. Kai watched as Jaune's face changed from a frown to a glare of pure determination. Jaune yelled out in an uncharacteristic battle cry as he glowed a white color. Then a burst of light and a cackle came that made the group turn away and cover their ears. Unknown to them Jaune released a massive current of aura. Lightning went through the ice and into the hulking bodies of the first rank of corpse stompers. The electrical current traveled from the first Corpse stomper and arched from it to the next, to the next and so on. The lightning fried the insides of the grimm and left them charred and burnt from the inside out. Jaune was unable to stop the current of energy though. He continued to put all his aura into the current. He would use it all plus his own soul if he didn't sever the connection. But this was Unknown to his teammates.

Romeo

Romeo was amazed that this blinding light was still shining. Something was probably wrong.

"Hey is he alright?" Romeo yelled over the crackle of the electricity.

"No something's very very wrong!" Pyrrha hollered back.

"What do we do!?" Ruby asked.

"We can't see what's wrong! What can we do!?" Weiss said.

"Well. I can fix that part." Kai said. Suddenly there wasn't a blinding light. "Vision manipulation. My semblance. Figure this out quick." Kai said, meditating on the ground his eyes closed.

The group walked over to Jaune who still had the determined look on his face. As they walked up he didn't acknowledge them. His eyes still glowed and the electricity was able to be seen on his hand, the arching blots dancing around on his palm and fingers. The Ice was almost melted even though it had only been seconds.

"Thats a lot of energy." Romeo said. "So how do we stop this?"

"We sever the conduit of energy. The aura won't have anywhere to go so it will probably just stop and go back into Jaune's body." Pyrrha said. She was obviously nervous and worried. Beyond that even.

"How do we do that?" Ruby asked.

"We'll need a conductor, a sword or a metal." Pyrrha explained.

"Here will this work?" Romeo said, offering one of his two swords.

"Yes that'll do." She said. "Now we need a way to get this in between the current of electricity and then route it back to Jaune."

"I could try using my aura. maybe i can use the wind to move it." Romeo offered, again.

"Guy's you only have a little longer." Kai pitched in.

"Ok,Ok, do it." Pyrrha said in a hurried voice.

Romeo concentrated, gusts of wind formed around his sword as he moved it over to the electrical connection. The swords blade touched Jaune's hand, the source. Then he positioned the handle on his lower leg. The crackling started to lessen, Jaune's eyes slowly went back to normal and his face relaxed. He then collapsed on the ground with.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha yelped. She knelt beside him and touched him with a finger but instantly pulled back.

"He's burning hot."

"He needs to cool off. Let him." Kai said as he got up from his meditation. "Are all the grimm dead?" He asked.

Everyone looked back from Jaune to the bridge's entrance. What seemed to be like hundreds of Corpse stompers bodies were slowly turning into dust.

"Jeez. I'm suprised he isn't dead." Kai said. "Well I'm going to go meet the people we saved. There's not much we can do for Jaune for the moment."

"I'll go with" Romeo said.

"Me too" Ruby added.

The three went back to the temple of grimm. They made their way inside and looked for the newly rescued. They were sitting by Nora who was still looking at Ren. Kai, Romeo, and Ruby walked over. The two strangers sat awkwardly. There was one boy and one girl.

"Hello." Kai greeted.

"Uhm. Hi" The girl said in a Light, quiet voice.

"I'm Kai, and these are my friends Romeo and Ruby"

"I'm Sarah Senlin, this is my brother Rènào Sēnlín. But he likes being called Sen." Sarah explained

Sen waved nonchalantly.

"So if you're ok with me asking, why are you in this grimm infested forest.?" Kai asked.

"Why do you care?" Sen said.

"Well. All i want to know is this. Who are you? We just killed an entire horde of Corpse stompers and our friend may be dead. So we want to know who you are." Romeo retaliated.

Sen glared at him, Romeo glared back.

"Would you chill out? They just saved us!" Sarah tisked her brother, who seemed older than her. "What he means is, that it's a touchy subject we aren't fond of sharing to complete strangers." Sarah said.

"Ok then. Well if I share something that could be just as bad would you tell us what's happened to you?" Kai said, earning odd looks from Romeo and Ruby.

"I suppose" Sarah said.

"Well. I Haven't told my sister yet but our father was assassinated. I told her he was sick and died of an illness." Kai said.

"Really? What was his name?" Sarah asked with a squint.

"One who shares a name shares a secret" Kai replied as he sat down in front of the two strangers.

"The same thing happened to us. But with both parents." Sarah explained. "I was wondering why you wore the cloak of the guild"

"Hmm. I left a long time ago." Kai replied. Romeo was now genuinely confused. Was this another secret of Kai's? He was sick of them.

"Oh. But do you still know what's going on inside the guild."

"Their moving on the possible head quarters of the people who are killing the elder board members. So i expect that that's why you're out here. Am i Correct?"

"Yes but there have been some complications…"

"Like what."

"The guild is disbanded. So now me and my brother are trying to finish what they started and get revenge."

"Revenge never is the right path."

"It's the only thing we can work towards right now. We have nothing else their for us."

"Well what happens when you get revenge? Then what?"

"We move on with our lives." Sen said.

"Oh. And what will you do?"

"Well. we haven't really gotten to that part…" Sarah explained.

"Right. Listen I'm not telling you to do anything but as the son of the guild leaders son I advise that you wait for the right time to move." Kai said.

"Now this is getting crazy" Romeo thought

"And what if we don't?" Sen asked.

"You'll probably die. Not to mention that even if you succeed there won't be anything to come back to."

"What do you mean?"

"Vale's under attack. A invasion of the grimm. This hasn't happened since The War."

"Vale's under attack?"

"Yeah. That's why we're in the middle of no where at this ancient temple. It's a long story but basically we're here giving vale the best chance it has of surviving."

The brother and sister were quiet for a moment.

"It would be very helpful to have two weapon masters on the field. You can come back with us to Vale and maybe you can save us to pay us back." Kai offered.

"Ok." Was what Sarah said gratitude played on her face

Suddenly Ren sat straight up, His pillar glowing.

"REN!" Nora exclaimed, Hugging him tightly

"Oh Nora you're alright!" He said, His eyes watering and voice wavering.

Jaune limped through the entrance of the temple. Pyrrha holding him steady. Weiss, Blake, and Yang started walking over to the rest of the group while Pyrrha set Jaune down carefully. She probably wouldn't leave his side.

"Well. Time to meet everyone." Kai said to Sarah and Sen. "And Ruby, Romeo. The things i said are not to be told to anyone else. I'll tell the group on my own time." Kai ended.

Ren

"Kill her" The voice in his head thought.

"No why would I do that?" Ren thought back.

"Because nothing in this world is worth having alive" It said.

"No…"

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**Authors Note- Oh man and just when Ren seemed OK. More back story ahead so if it doesn't make any sense now it will. Also, If you recall a few chapters ago there was a part that said something along the line of "36 hours earlier" that is to come. Please review or PM me with any suggestions, criticisms, or whatever. See you guys later- Symph **


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